Clocks
by saoirseronans
Summary: "There was a tree there on the grassy bank in the middle of it, a large willow tree with it's long elegant branches lifting in the breeze and then dropping, waving back and forward but it's beams never broke or snapped. Toby wondered if the tree had ever wished that it was able to break." Spoby drabble, set during 'Over My Dead Body' (S2Ep12). R&R and enjoy.


_**A/N:**__ Hi everyone! So, I added yet another fandom to my ever increasing list and recently watched Pretty Little Liars, thanks to my friends Emily (swiftchanted) and Hannah (ginnifermorrisons) who spammed me with the show so much on tumblr that I just had to watch it just to figure out what was happening. I fell in love with Spencer primarily and then later Spoby because I have a weakness for broken people who manage to fix one another by coming together. Thank you for clicking on my story and I hope you'll read it and enjoy it and then possibly leave a review for me because that would make me love you forever and a day. Thank you again!_

_love, Isabelle xx _

* * *

Tick tock.

Tick tock.

Tick tock.

Toby's knee jerked up and down, the skin at the back on his leg scraping against the hard, plastic of the bench in the police station. He hardly felt it though; his mind was already too focused on something else. There wasn't room to think of any more.

It was late. He could tell that by how dark the sky looked outside the open window, opposite him and slightly to the left. From his seat, he could see right through the window and into the parking lot outside. There was a tree there on the grassy bank in the middle of it, a large willow tree with it's long elegant branches lifting in the breeze and then dropping, waving back and forward but it's beams never broke or snapped. Toby wondered if the tree had ever wished that it was able to break.

Tick tock.

The sound of a ticking clock drew his attention back into the station, with it's even, regular beats matching his hearts. There was an analytical clock on the wall opposite him, next to the window. It had a wooden frame, and the numbers were painted on in roman numerals, instead of block numbers. Jenna had had a clock just like that in her bedroom… well, she had before her need for it disappeared. He could remember that clock clearly, the way it's hands had little arrows on the end of them that clinked with every second that passed and the smooth, caramel coloured wood of the frame around it.

That reminded him.

Toby hated clocks.

Tick tock.

* * *

Concentrate.

His head dropped into his hands and he could feel his breath quicken and his pulse flare like a firecracker. Firecrackers, with their bright, hot light and blinding flames and the screams that, in his mind, always went with them with them…

_God, no_.

Pulling his head up again swiftly, he ran his fingers through his hair and tried to steady his breathing. Not Jenna. Now was not the time to be thinking about Jenna. He was not going to be thinking about Jenna. He was here for Spencer.

Spencer. _Spencer Spencer Spencer_. Just saying her name made Toby's heart hurt and his limbs ache. They ached to go, to run and find her and hold her tightly to him and never let her go. But he couldn't, because she was somewhere in this godforsaken police station, being held for questioning on the abduction and suspected murder of Dr Anne Sullivan and the possession of the murder weapon of Alison DiLaurentis. And there was damn all that he could do about it.

Tick tock.

In his pocket, his phone vibrated against his thigh. Toby felt his heart leap into his mouth and then sink deep into his stomach with dismay and he took a shuddering breath, covering his eyes. _Please, not again. Not now_. Slowly, he reached into his pocket and drew out the phone, noticing the flashing blue light at the top, informing him of a new text message. It was from a blocked number. With shaking hands, he opened it.

_Poor Toby. Missing Spencer? I can stop her going to juvie, you know. After all, you of all people should now how hard she'd find it…kisses, -A_

The phone clattered onto the bench, dropped from Toby's hands like it was red hot. He shifted away from it, angling his body along the bench, as if trying to pretend it wasn't his, that the message wasn't for him, that the dozens of similar messages he'd been receiving hadn't been for him. But they were.

The ticking of the clock was getting louder and louder, or so it seemed to Toby, beating harder and harder to try and keep up with his thudding heart. The sound grew, so it filled his head and pumped through his body, chanting at him mockingly all the while.

_Tick tock_

_ Spencer's got_

_ No chance_

_ So give up._

* * *

Tick tock.

Quite suddenly, the door of the interrogation room opened and an officer came out, pulling a girl out with him. Toby's head jerked up, an abrupt rush of blood shooting up to his head in his eagerness to see who it was who was coming out.

_Spencer Spencer Spencer._

But it wasn't Spencer. It was Aria, her best friend, the little one with the big mouth and had put a pink stripe in her hair, as he had always referred to her as, much to Spencer's mild irritation.

Aria was dressed in a short, light pink chiffon party dress with a black sash and her dark hair all up in curls; but what struck Toby the most about her was that she was entirely covered in dirt. It was smudged into her face and skin and stained her dress, which was ripped in several places and torn. She was being escorted by a police officer down the station, her head down, one arm grabbing across to the other. The officer's hand was very close to her arm, but didn't quite touch the skin.

Aria would know where Spencer was.

Licking his dry lips nervously, Toby moved forwards, before the officer could take Aria even further away, gathering up all his courage. 'Aria,' he began, but his voice carried further than he'd expected it to across the silence of the station.

Startled, Aria looked up and her already large eyes widened to see him. Toby moved again, so there was even less space for him to cross, desperate to talk to her. The officer's eyes narrowed and he placed his body between the two teenagers pointedly.

'You can't talk to her, kid,' he said, giving Toby a cautious glare. 'Go on, get out of here.'

'No, please…' Toby was close to begging. _Spencer Spencer Spencer._ He looked past the officer to Aria, who was still watching him past the officer's shoulder. There was pity shining in her eyes that were already brimming with tears.

Toby bit his lip and, for a moment, imagined how hard this must be for Aria, as well as Spencer, not to mention Emily, his friend Emily, and Hanna as well. His brotherly instincts were kicking in and he had a desperate urge to hug Aria, right there and then, but had to hold it back.

'Spencer…' He was meaning to ask if she was alright, but his voice broke slightly with emotion and he stopped, embarrassed.

But Aria understood and gave him a half-smile. 'She's okay,' she said, quietly. Toby's body instantly relaxed. It felt as if Aria had unwittingly lifted a huge weight from his shoulders, which had been pressing down on him that whole afternoon, since Spencer had run out of his truck and hadn't been able to catch up with her. Now, it finally felt like he had. She was alright.

The officer finally lost patience with the two teenagers and, with a grunt, started back off down the station again, but this time he held Aria by the elbow. Toby watched them go, seeing Aria totter away on her heels, unsteady on her feet in her uncertainty, with an unusual sadness. When they reached the desk with the telephone, Aria sat down and Toby turned away.

In his pocket, his phone gave a shrill tone again, and Toby closed his eyes wearily, tipping his head up to the ceiling. Still with his eyes tight shut, he pulled his phone out again and held it firmly in his palm. With a deep breath, he opened his eyes again.

_She's alright for now, but will it always be that way? You know that I can make sure it is. Made your mind up yet, Toby? Remember, your time is running out. Tick tock –A._

This time, as he threw the phone away, it clattered all the way down the smooth lino of the police station floor and shattered into two.

Tick tock.

* * *

The police officers were getting fed up with him being there.

Toby could see it, as they glanced up at him, sitting on the bench, more and more frequently, then at one another doubtfully. They wanted him to go home, he knew it, but it wasn't going to happen, not in a thousand years. Not until he'd seen her and knew she was safe.

Eventually, one officer who had been sitting with another at a table on the other side of the station got up, after holding a silent conversation with his partner, carried out only in looks. As he walked over, Toby got up, feeling a fire in the pit of his gut. He sure as hell wasn't going to let this man make him leave.

'You need to go home, boy,' the officer told him. 'You have no reason to be here.'

'I'm not your boy,' Toby hissed, towering over him and jabbing his finger in the officer's direction. 'And I'm not leaving!'

He trailed off.

The officer must have continued speaking, but Toby didn't hear anymore. Looking over his shoulder, the interrogation room door had opened again and someone else had come out. She was tall and slim, wearing a cream halter neck dress with satin stripes across the skirt and her dark hair falling over her face. Like Aria, she was also covered in dirt from head to foot, but that didn't matter to Toby. She was still the most beautiful thing he had even seen.

Spencer.

'Spencer!' he called, pushing the officer out of his way in his hurry to get to her. _Spencer Spencer Spencer._ The police officer grabbed onto his shoulder, trying to hold him back, but Toby kept on pushing through. He had to get to her, he had to.

'I don't care what you can't tell me!' he yelled, desperately, as she came closer and closer to him, the officer with her holding tightly to her elbow. 'I care about you!' She turned the corner away from him, her head down, even though he knew she could hear him. No. No, no. 'I love you!'

More officers had noticed now and another came to help the first hold him back. Toby pushed against them desperately as Spencer was pulled away and out of his reach. _Spencer Spencer Spencer_.

'Do you hear me?' he asked her, urgently, his heart aching. 'I love you! Spencer!'

In one last attempt, he threw all his strength into pulling the officers off of his arms, in the vain hope that he could break free and run after her and tell her all that he needed too. But instead they just tightened their grip and she turned the corner and went out of his sight. 'Spencer!'

But she was gone.

'Right, that's it kid, now you really gotta go,' the first officer told him firmly, with one hand on Toby's shirt. He started dragging him back, towards the door again, but this time Toby put up no resistance. He let himself be pulled, inch by inch, away from Spencer, who would not let him in. He wasn't prepared to lose her. He had lost so many people and he would not let himself lose her.

Tick tock.

* * *

Stumbling back out onto the steps outside the police station, Toby felt numb and disorientated. His mind was still on a constant loop of thoughts about Spencer but he knew that it would be nuts to stay outside the police station all night. Besides, the officer who'd thrown him out probably wouldn't be too thrilled about that.

Above him, he could see the moon clearly as there were no clouds and as it was full and so bright that night, Toby felt sure he would have been able to see perfectly even without the streetlamps. However, it being so late also made him aware that his parents would be home by now, which meant that they would be beginning to be worried about him. Toby groaned, remembering that he no longer had his phone, it was still somewhere inside the station. There would most likely be at least a dozen voicemails from Jenna and half a dozen texts from his parents.

Just as he was preparing himself to walk home and face the music, a movement over by the willow tree caught his eye. Looking up, he caught a glimpse of a hooded figure dressed in black tacking a piece of paper onto the bark of the tree.

'Hey!' he yelled, leaping off the last step and sprinting towards the green. The figure half turned to him, but then spun on their heels and fled. 'Hey stop!'

By the time Toby had reached the tree, the figure had disappeared into the night. But the piece of paper attached to the willow tree was still there. Toby yanked it off the bark, ripping it slightly at the top left corner. All that was written on it was:

_Tick tock_

_ You've got_

_ No choice_

_ Time's up. Kisses, -A_

At the bottom was written an address for some motel just out of town and a suite number. There was a cellphone number too, but it wasn't one he recognised. The message given was all too clear. With a sinking feeling of despair in him gut, Toby looked up at the sky. The moon had passed behind a cloud and it was suddenly darker, and colder. He gave an involuntary shudder.

'God forgive me,' he thought, although he didn't quite think that. Substitute 'God' for another name though, and you get what he was thinking.

Way over by the church, just across the town, the clock struck four. Toby counted the chimes as they came, but with every one saw in his mind the face of a girl, a girl that he would very soon have to hurt. It wasn't fair. But then when was life ever fair?

In his hand, his phone started to ring. The caller was unknown, but the numbers that flashed up with every note of the ringtone matched the number on the paper he held. Toby held the phone up to his ear.

'You don't have to ask me again,' he said. 'I'm in.'

Tick tock.


End file.
